A. Field of Invention
This invention pertains to musical instruments with removable mouthpiece assemblies, and more particularly to a novel assembly wherein the ligature has several positions spaced along a longitudinal axis of a mouthpiece.
B. Description of the Prior Art
Woodwind instruments are instruments consisting of a tubular body used to define a column of air. As is well known in the art, sound waves are produced within the column of air and the musical characteristics of the sounds, including pitch, volume and other characteristics are modulated by changing the acoustic characteristics of the column. More specifically, a mouthpiece is attached by a friction fit to an end of the tubular body. The mouthpiece has a cavity in communication with the interior of the tubular body. A reed covers the cavity and is arranged so that when a musician blows through the mouthpiece, the reed oscillates and produces vibrations which are then propagated through the cavity in the mouthpiece to the tubular body. The reed is secured to the mouthpiece by an adjustable metal band known as the ligature.
The ligature normally extends circumferentially around the entire outer body of the mouthpiece. The ligature is provided with an integral tightening mechanism that is used to secure the reed to the mouthpiece. Because of the mechanical coupling between the ligature, the mouthpiece and the reed, the structure of the ligature plays a roll in the sound produced by the instruments, and various types of ligatures are available from different companies, each having its own sound characteristics. FIGS. 3 and 4 show some known prior art mouthpieces and ligatures for saxophones.